As a light rain fell on Stanford's spring football practice, the players could hear the PA announcer from Sunken Diamond, a few hundred yards away: "Now batting - Toby Gerhart!"

Many of the football players cheered. Gerhart again is skipping spring football to play baseball and that gray afternoon was playing against UCLA.

The man who rushed for a school-record 1,136 yards last year won't take part in the spring game at 7 tonight (admission is free), but coach Jim Harbaugh isn't worried about him. Harbaugh has plenty of questions to resolve before the Sept. 5 opener at Washington State, not the least of which is who will start at quarterback.

Senior Tavita Pritchard is one of 15 returning starters from last year's 5-7 team, but he's in a stiff competition with Andrew Luck. Harbaugh wouldn't give either an edge at this point and said he probably won't pick the starter until early in summer drills.

"Both have really shined this spring," he said. "It's been very even."

Pritchard started all 12 games last year, although he shared the duties over the last five games with Alex Loukas. Loukas sustained a knee injury recently and is out until late September or October.

The job eventually will fall to Luck, although whether it will happen this year is anyone's guess. The 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman from Houston has packed on 25 pounds of muscle since arriving at the Farm last year.

"He's been a real workout warrior in the weight room," Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh broached the possibility that several players might play both ways this year, although he cautioned that no one is going to start on both offense and defense.

One such player is 241-pound fullback Owen Marecic, who has been working as a backup middle linebacker. Another is speedy cornerback Michael Thomas, who will be given a look at running back or wide receiver.

The two-position idea isn't a sign of weakness at any position, Harbaugh indicated. "It's to add depth, to make sure we have as many quality players on the field as we can," he said.

Also among the most heavily contested position competitions are at strong-side linebacker between Will Powers and Alex Debniak and weak-side linebacker between Chike Amajoyi and Max Bergen.

The hard-luck player of the spring has been offensive tackle Allen Smith, who was granted a sixth year of eligibility after missing most of the last two seasons with a torn patella tendon. He reinjured the same knee April 1; his status won't be known for eight weeks.

"Your heart goes out to him," Harbaugh said. "He missed two years of football and was progressing very well back into playing time, possibly even a starting role."